Ohio State Basketball: What to Make of Buckeyes’ Recent Struggles

Remember when Ohio State was undefeated and ranked No. 3 in the country after an impressive undefeated nonconference mark and two wins to open up Big Ten play?

Didn’t think so.

Believe it or not, it was merely a week ago, on Jan. 7, when things looked rosier than Aaron Craft’s cheeks for the basketball Buckeyes. Suddenly, with two consecutive conference losses to Michigan State and Iowa, the general cheer that surrounded the program after such a perfect start has been completely sapped.

This certainly isn’t the time to start sounding the alarm bells, because the sky isn’t falling. However, expectations were quite high for this veteran-laden team before the season started, and a flawless mark in nonconference play did nothing to lower the bar. There are some concerns that have to be weighing on Thad Matta’s mind right now.

For one, Ohio State was never really tested in the first 15 games outside of the contest against Notre Dame in which the Buckeyes were outplayed for 39 minutes before a miraculous comeback. Now that the teeth of the Big Ten schedule is upon us, there are some serious issues that are starting to rear their ugly head that could have possibly been corrected with a more difficult nonconference slate.

The fact that the Buckeyes came out with a complete lack of urgency at Michigan State to the point that Dan Dakich was calling them out during the broadcast was not encouraging. The comeback was valiant in one of the most…